Categories
Living

LIVING Picks: Week of December 7-13

Family

Monticello gingerbread house workshop
Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11

Feast on cookies and hot chocolate as you create a colorful new addition for your holiday décor. $55 for a four-member family pass, 2-4pm. Smith Woodland Pavilion at Monticello, 931 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy. monticello.org

Nonprofit

Santa Pancake Breakfast
Sunday, December 11

Enjoy breakfast while sharing your heart’s desire with the big guy in red. $12 non-members; family four-pack discounts, various times. Virginia Discovery Museum, 524 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. RSVP required to 977-1025.

Food & Drink

Michie Tavern Yuletide Feast
Friday, December 9 and Saturday, December 10

Strolling musicians entertain as you dine on a banquet of Virginia staples in the tavern’s decorated dining room. $19.50-38.95, 6 and 8pm seatings. Michie Tavern, 683 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy. michietavern.com.

Health & Wellness

Intuition workshop
Saturday, December 10

This workshop, led by transformational life coach Colleen Coles, teaches you how to balance your wants and shoulds. Free, 1:30-3pm. Ivy Yoga School, 1042 Owensville Rd. ashtangacharlottesville.com

Categories
Arts

Artists gather their animals for Chroma exhibition

There is something about the scene of animals gathered in a manger to greet a newborn that offers a bit of relief to the anxieties of our human world. “Animals are so pure of heart,” says Chroma Projects director Deborah McLeod. “They have no political agenda. And in the manger scenes, the clusters of animals are neutral. They’re gathering around innocence.”

The image of this tranquil setting compelled her to invite a number of artists who work with animals as their subject matter to show their work at Chroma Projects’ downtown location this month. The exhibition consists of paintings and sculptural installations by Virginia Van Horn, Russ Warren, Aggie Zed, Pam Black and Lester Van Winkle. Three of these artists in particular share a fascination with horses that has informed their lives and their work for years.

Virginia Van Horn’s large-scale horse sculpture, “If Wishes Were Horses,” rests on bales of hay and a metal bed and immediately draws the eye upon entering. Van Horn, an artist based in Norfolk, writes in an e-mail: “My fascination with horses dates back to my childhood as a champion rider and it continues to be the central image in my work.” Her two other pieces in the exhibition consist of wire sculptural interpretations of the equine form, including one with two heads, each nestled in a black box that resembles a stable. “The juxtaposition of animals with man-made artifacts,” she writes, “emphasizes their shared traits with humanity, as if we all live in a shared fairy tale.”

Warren, from Charlottesville, raised horses for 30 years and is well-acquainted with their form and personality. He was most recently inspired by an exhibition of Picasso’s sculptures at the Museum of Modern Art. When he returned, he began sculpting the horse and crane that appear in “Manger Scene.”

His works consist of wood covered in chicken wire, which he then overlays and shapes with plaster. He often combines found objects with his sculptures that also reflect his agricultural environment, such as the pitchfork that represents the horse’s tail. His color selections, says Warren, “are influenced a lot by Mexican muralists, specifically Tamayo and Picasso’s Cubist phase.” At the foot of his two sculptures, reclining on a makeshift manger, is a two-dimensional dog named “Un chien” (French for “The dog”), whose material base is cement Warren made from his farm’s gravel dust.

Zed’s anthropomorphic figures are what she calls “intimate-scaled,” and are sculpted by hand. Her origins as a sculptor began with a small act of rebellion in college. After being criticized for painting horses, she built a chess set by hand in order to have an excuse to make horses (in the form of the knight pieces). Little did she know she would stumble on the livelihood that would allow her to paint.

As she branched into sculpting, Zed worked with ceramic at first. But soon the problem of chipped ears and broken legs presented itself when she began shipping. Her solution? To integrate metal components into her work. She calls these fantastical pieces “scrap floats,” as she imagines them “as parade floats at a time in the future when technology has gone off the limb and we’re left with various parts we don’t use anymore.”

One such piece is a mechanical rabbit with wings. Another is a horse with metal ears and wheels for hooves. “Almost all my work,” she says, “rather than meaning something, is a visual exploration. I get it to a point where it doesn’t look mechanically awkward and it has an emotive quality.”

While the manger scene tells the story of animals gathering around a newborn human, Chroma offers the opportunity for humans to gather around these representations of animals and consider their interior lives, their sentience or what we might even call their humanity.

Categories
Living

New concept pops up at Yearbook Taco

When deciding on what to do next with the Yearbook Taco space, owner Hamooda Shami dug deep into a lengthy note on his iPhone, a note full of mostly wild hospitality ideas that ends with a Peanuts cartoon where Lucy, in her winter coat, hat and mittens, says to Charlie Brown, “I feel torn between the desire to create and the desire to destroy.”

Shami feels that he played it safe in creating the Yearbook Taco concept, which, he says, with its yearbook photos of staff and customers adorning the walls, has run its course. Yearbook reached its peak about 11 months in, Shami says, when the novelty wore off.

With that in mind, Shami will open 11 Months—a space for extended restaurant/bar pop-ups—in February. Every 11 months, he’ll close the restaurant for a month to rebrand, tweak the menu and bar offerings and redecorate the space for the new theme. The general restaurant layout and staff will remain the same.

“When you make a bold, innovative move, sometimes people respond, sometimes people don’t. Either people will respond well, or this will be my most public humiliation,” Shami says, laughing optimistically. He hopes that it goes over well, both here and in Richmond—he’s signed a lease to open an 11 Months there, too. It’s not likely that the two spots would host the same concept at the same time, but he’s open to anything.

And there’s potential for community involvement, he says. If the idea is successful, he’d consider presenting five different concepts for the public to vote on, and whichever concept won would be the next 11 Months Presents theme.

Shami wouldn’t go on the record as to what the first 11 Months concept is, other than to say it’ll be “weird, but not too niche.” But he did profess his love for Morrissey more than once during our conversation.

Juicy news

This spring, The Juice Laundry will open a new location in Washington, D.C., in the Arris apartment building, part of The Yards near Nationals Park. Owners Mike and Sarah Keenan say they were approached by the building’s developer, who had traveled to Charlottesville for a wedding several months ago and happened to visit The Juice Laundry on Preston Avenue.

“We see it as a really great and exciting opportunity to bring our products and passion for healthy living to a new community—and all the UVA grads now living in D.C.,” they say. As for The Juice Laundry here in Charlottesville, nothing will change, though the growth could allow them to expand the menu to include “even more healthy, delicious options.”

Homegrown gal

Allie Hull, founder of Homegrown Virginia and an Ivy resident, will be on hand from 2-5pm Saturday, December 10, at the Crozet Artisan Depot, during the Taste Virginia reception. A variety of foods created from local farm produce, such as jams, jellies and sauces, will be ripe for sampling. Homegrown Virginia makes small-batch recipes highlighting produce picked during the peak of ripeness.

Categories
News

Iced out

Even before Mark Brown listed the Main Street Arena for sale for $6.5 million in September, the rumor mill was working overtime about possible buyers for the prime Downtown Mall location, including speculation back in the spring that a Japanese developer wanted to turn it into a hotel.

The current buzz? That Jaffray Woodriff, founder of Quantitative Investment Management, which manages a $3 billion hedge fund, is going to buy the arena and turn it into a tech incubator hub. Another part of the chatter is that the ice park will move to a less pricey neighborhood, such as the Albemarle urban ring.

A call to Woodriff was routed to attorney Valerie Long, who declined to comment.

“Nothing is settled yet,” says Brown. “A number of people are looking at it.”

In 2010, Brown bought the ice rink that Lee Danielson and Colin Rolph built in 1996 and which is credited with helping to turn the Downtown Mall into the success story it is today.

The ice park itself, however, was a major financial drain. When team Danielson and Rolph split up, it was sold to Roberta Williamson and Bruce Williamson, who bought it for $3.1 million in 2003. They sold it to Brown for $3 million seven years later.

Brown’s strategy was to melt the ice for part of the year and use the 17,000-square-foot-rink for other purposes, while saving on electricity and water bills.

Roger Voisinet is an investor in the 230 W. Main St. facility, and he points out that the property is for sale, not the business. Six or seven locals, two who have children who play hockey, joined majority owner Brown to keep it from becoming a boarded up shell like the Landmark Hotel.

“We had a 10-year note,” says Voisinet, and the group had to invest an additional $1 million to keep the Main Street Arena open, he says.

Since the buy, Brown’s enchantment with owning property downtown has dissipated, fueled largely by his legal battles over the Water Street Parking Garage, which he co-owns with the city.

So when will the fate of the ice park be revealed? Says Brown, “When the for sale sign comes down.

Categories
News

West Grounds: More student apartments in Midtown

Another unremarkably named structure will soon be joining The Flats and The Uncommon student housing on West Main: The Standard.

Located across the street from The Flats on the site of the soon-to-be demolished Republic Plaza, the six-story, 70′ structure has already raised concerns about turning West Main into a canyon and about how the building will loom over Westhaven public housing across the tracks to the north.

Charlottesville native Scott Peyton is one of those perturbed about the canyon effect and disappointed The Standard was granted a special use permit for 70′, which, thanks to a rezoning earlier this year, is now a by-right use on the western end of the downtown/UVA connector.

“The special use permit should only be granted if there’s some benefit to the public,” he says.

The Standard will sit on 2.5 acres, and plans call for 189 apartments and a 499-space parking garage. The first floor will have commercial and retail tenants.

That it is the third apartment building targeting students on West Main is another concern for Peyton. “It’s shortsighted to enter that narrow a population on West Main,” he says. “They’re essentially university dorms.”

And with underage drinking an issue at UVA and elsewhere, he finds it worrisome that The Flats houses World of Beer on its first floor, while The Uncommon will feature a Hardywood microbrewery on its street level.

Blake Hurt, who built Republic Plaza in 1989 and is leasing the land for The Standard to developer Landmark Properties, takes a more benign view of the influx of students on West Main, which he says would be a problem if they were plopped in the middle of the Venable neighborhood. “West Main is in many ways separate from the surrounding neighborhoods,” he says.

He wants to capture the liveliness on the Corner and on the Downtown Mall, and he says, “That means you’ve got to have residents.” Those residents will bring restaurants and businesses to an area that for a long time has been “a dead zone,” he says.

Hurt believes West Main is the best place for high-density development and he pooh-poohs the notion that The Standard will create a canyon across the street from the 101′  Flats. “Is there a canyon on the mall?” he asks. The Standard is “six stories, not 12,” he says. “This is not a Monticello Hotel. Does that intimidate you?”

The Standard is being built by Landmark Properties out of Athens, Georgia, a company that builds luxury student housing with amenities such as infinity pools, fitness centers and granite counter-topped kitchens.

“The demand for student housing and low interest rates made the project attractive,” says Hurt.

Landmark Properties currently has $800 million in student housing projects under construction, according to its website. It created The Retreat brand, and is now building Retreats in Blacksburg and Harrisonburg.

The company has donated $665,777 to the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund, which likely means it will not be renting affordable units in The Standard. Multiple calls to Landmark VP Jason Doornbos were not returned.

Architect John Matthews says the building permit was issued in November, and the target is occupancy by late summer/early fall 2018.

Meanwhile, Republic Plaza is coming down. Does that mean an implosion in our futures?

“I think it’s far less dramatic,” says Hurt. “I think they have a machine that’s going to claw it down.”

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Republic Plaza is coming down. Staff photo
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Unfortunately, there will not be an explosion to take down the building. Staff photo
Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Radio Jarocho

Steeped in music tradition, son jarocho blends elements of African rhythms, Spanish poetry, melodies and native Mexican culture into a single genre, and members of New York City’s Radio Jarocho—master sonero Zenen Zeferino from Jáltipan, Veracruz and zapateado dancer Julia del Palacio from Mexico City—are in town to share their knowledge. They’ll give workshops on zapateado (rhythmic foot dance) and son jarocho rhythm and song technique before performing with Estela Knott and David Berzonsky of Charlottesville-based Mexilachian group Lua.

Saturday, December 10. Free, 3pm. McGuffey Art Center, 201 Second St. NW. luminariacville.org.

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Joe Lawlor and Friends

When Joe Lawlor is not on the road with Dave Matthews Band’s audio crew, the accomplished guitarist is often leading his own sets influenced by funk, blues and classic rock. While it’s a joy to see Lawlor on big stages sitting in on a jam with Dave, there’s a special glow to his hometown all-star lineup of Joe Lawlor and Friends, especially one that benefits the community and includes Trax-era UVA faves The Cows and The Jolly Llamas.

Saturday, December 10. $20-25, 8pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.

Categories
News

Who’s a racist? Wes Bellamy and Jason Kessler speak out at City Council

An overflow crowd packed City Council chambers December 5 for Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy’s first appearance since the racist, misogynist and homophobic tweets he made before taking office were released on Thanksgiving. And the man who created the firestorm, Jason Kessler, showed up with a petition calling for Bellamy’s ouster.

bellamySignsCityCouncil
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The majority of attendees were Bellamy supporters, some carrying signs that said, “Stop alt-right hate.”

Mayor Mike Signer voiced his support for Bellamy: “Like many in our community, I was shaken by the revelations of his past Internet speech. I believe in second chances. I reject the content of these communications. I also reject the hatred and outright racism of many of the attacks we’ve received against Mr. Bellamy.”

Signer advised those calling for Bellamy’s removal that City Council has “no such legal authority.”

Bellamy, who issued an apology on Facebook November 27, fell on the sword again at the meeting, after Signer warned protesters that outbursts were strictly forbidden.

“I owe everything to this city and this area, including an apology,” he said. “I’m sorry for the tweets I sent in my early- and mid-20s. I’m not looking to defend or justify my words, as they are indefensible.”

Bellamy thanked the community that had helped him grow “from the arrogant young man who had too little respect for women to the married man with three daughters who has the utmost respect for all women.”

He vowed to grow every day to become a leader for the community. “I’ve truly learned the importance of humility and grace,” he said.

Since the tweets were published, Bellamy, 30, is on administrative leave from his job as a teacher at Albemarle High, and he resigned from his appointment to the state Board of Education.

Other councilors offered their support for Bellamy. Bob Fenwick cited “the virtual mob” that has come after the vice mayor and pledged, “I will stand with Wes.” And Kristin Szakos, who had already publicly supported Bellamy, said after Fenwick spoke, “Like you said.”

Kathy Galvin said the past tweets were “troubling,” but that they did not match her experience in working with Bellamy, which has been one of respect.

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Jason Kessler awaits his moment to address City Council. photo eze amos

Kessler, in a T-shirt printed with “The Sword,” came before council with a recording playing Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down,” which Signer asked him to turn off. Kessler said he represented 900 petitioners against Bellamy’s “anti-white, anti-woman and pro-rape” statements.

“I am here to demand Wes Bellamy be removed from office,” he said, also taking aim at Szakos, who early on had speculated that Bellamy’s Twitter account had been hacked or the tweets were fake.

Kessler also contested the ages in which Bellamy said he made his youthful Twitter indiscretions, alleging Bellamy was between 24 and 28.

JasonKesslerCC-ezeAmos
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And to boos from the audience, he said, “Any one of Bellamy’s tweets would have forced a resignation a week ago if he were a white man.”

Before Thanksgiving, Kessler was pretty much an unknown 33-year-old UVA alum who has published a book of poetry, two online novels and a screenplay.

Now he’s far better known for publishing Bellamy’s offensive tweets.

One week after his Bellamy exposé came out, Kessler notes that he’s made international news—the Daily Caller—as well as national news in the San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post.

And while he accuses Bellamy of being anti-white, Kessler denies that he’s a white supremacist—and explains some of the nuances of the alt-right movement.

“They don’t even know what alt-right is,” he says of those who have condemned him. “They’re trying to frame Richard Spencer and [National Policy Institute] as alt-right. They’re not.”

Spencer, too, is a UVA alum who burst into the national spotlight during the recent election, and has been credited with coining the term “alt-right,” which is widely associated with white supremacist and white nationalist stances.

Kessler says he follows Milo Yiannopoulos, a writer and editor for Breitbart News, widely described as an alt-right publication, who was permanently suspended from Twitter in July for the “targeted abuse or harassment of others,” and Paul Joseph Watson, an editor at Infowars.com, the home of longtime conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and which U.S. News & World Report has called a fake news site.

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Is Jason Kessler mugging for the camera? photo eze amos

Some of the public commenters at City Council took issue with Kessler and the alt-right movement, with one calling him a “white supremacist.”

And the anti-Bellamy speakers noted his call for the removal of Confederate statues and a boycott of UVA lecturer Doug Muir’s restaurant, Bella, for “racist” comments Muir made comparing Black Lives Matter to the Ku Klux Klan.

After Kessler spoke, Szakos interrupted the meeting to alert police officers that Kessler said to Bellamy, “Your days are numbered.”

Clarification and correction December 7: Kessler contacted C-VILLE after this story was published to say he actually said, “527 signatures! We’re going to get him out of here. Your days are numbered.” And that his shirt says The Sword, not The Word.

Correction 5:04pm: The original story cited a Kessler tweet in which he said he was “still a fan” in a discussion of Richard Spencer. Kessler says he’s not a fan of Spencer, and meant he’s a fan of social media personality Mike Cernovich.

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Categories
News

UPDATED: City cop charged with sodomy denied bond

Christopher Seymore, an ex-officer with the Charlottesville Police Department, appeared in the city’s general district court via webcam December 2. Charged the previous day with two counts of forcible sodomy, he was denied bond until he can meet with his court-appointed attorney.

Seymore, 35, was employed with the CPD for 18 months and terminated December 1, the day of his arrest. In court, he testified that he lives in Richmond with his wife, 6-year-old daughter and 15-week-old son.

His wife told Judge Robert Downer she did not want to testify.

Hours later, outside the CPD, Major Gary Pleasants said Seymore met the victim, a female, while off duty—though the first incident of forcible sodomy happened while he was on the job. The second happened hours after the first, when Seymore was off the clock.

Pleasants also discussed how officers within the department are reacting to the situation.

“They’re mad at him for bringing discredit,” he said. “They’re worried there will be people in the community—and there will be—who look at us all the same.”

He said the department immediately launched an investigation after being notified of the incident on November 29, and officials didn’t feel it necessary to wait for a conviction before firing Seymore. “The fact that we arrested him for criminal charges was all we needed,” Pleasants said.

“There is nothing more important to the members of the Charlottesville Police Department than the trust of the citizens we serve,” Police Chief Al Thomas said in a press release. “To have that trust violated by one of our own deeply affects all members of this agency as well as the community. We will not tolerate misconduct by our officers and citizen complaints will be investigated thoroughly and appropriate action taken.”

Seymore will appear for a preliminary hearing February 2.

Updated December 2 at 2:30pm

Categories
Real Estate

Enjoy Charlottesville’s Popular, Walkable, Downtown Lifestyle

Downtown Charlottesville offers jobs, restaurants, shopping and entertainment, a combination of features that bring a growing number of  homebuyers wanting to live in a community that is vibrant, urban and walkable. Of course the highlight of the downtown area is the lively pedestrian mall—one of the few of its kind still thriving after years of operation. Downtown also appeals to a growing number of companies making it an important job center for the area and a place where employees can walk on the mall during breaks, eat interesting food for lunch and enjoy the many entertainment venues available there after hours. 

The City of Charlottesville dates back to 1762 when the Virginia General Assembly set aside 50 acres of land around the Albemarle County Courthouse.  Called Charlottesville, the fledgling city was named in honor of Queen Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the wife of King George the III of England.    The original city was laid out in half acre lots on four east-west and five north-south streets that today form the heart of downtown.   

In 1982, Charlottesville’s entire Historic District—88 structures—was added to the National Register of Historic Places, an official list of properties considered worthy of preservation and administered by the National Park Service. The City also recognizes these properties and requires their owners to seek approval from a Board of Architectural Review before making changes to their exteriors. These carefully preserved historic structures offer Charlottesville residents a continuing connection to the past, while at the same time, a growing tech sector  is moving our city firmly into the future.

Individuals and families who live near downtown enjoy a contemporary lifestyle in a walkable, urban setting that offers a range of prices plus housing styles that include condos, cottages, and  historic homes. Downtown truly has something for everyone.

The Downtown Real Estate Market
There is no question that the downtown market is doing well, although it is limited by a lack of inventory. Robert Ramsey with Roy Wheeler Realty Co. portrayed it as “strong,” and a place where bidding wars are increasingly common. 

He described a recent sale of a 1920s two-story brick colonial north of downtown and five blocks from the mall.  The home was next to an adjacent, vacant lot that was also for sale and could have gone to a separate buyer. The house had not been renovated since the 1960s and although it had a modern electric panel box, there were no grounded outlets and the plumbing was original. Ramsey described its overall condition as “deplorable.” The house listed for $640,000, the extra lot for an additional $225,000.  Both sold the first day to the same family who wanted the vacant lot as play space for their children.

Rob Alley with RE/MAX Realty Specialists said the market is the best it’s been in the last ten years.  He told of a recent listing near downtown on Druid Avenue that was “aggressively priced at $249,000” and sold in less than 30 days.  “Four years ago that would not have happened,” he said.

This kind of demand for homes can only be good news for sellers. Inessa Telefus with Loring Woodriff Real Estate Associates recently had 40 different parties show up at an open house in Belmont.  The home received multiple offers and ultimately sold for significantly more than the asking price.  She attributed this in part to the lack of inventory, and in part to the fact that the home was in good shape with “a lot of character.”  Earlier in the year she took a listing in the neighborhood near the old Martha Jefferson Hospital.  A small brick ranch, it sold as soon as she put the sign in the yard.

Cynthia Viejo, with Nest Realty Group is also enthusiastic about the current downtown market that she said “continues to be very strong.”  She added that, at the same time, “prices are going up,” and often  buyers are forced to compromise on the amenities they want in a home or must be willing to do serious renovations.

While downtown primarily offers older homes, buyers that want the benefits of new construction have a few alternatives. Charif Soubra is the Sales Manager for Southern Development Homes’ Burnet Commons, a neighborhood of new homes and town homes just eight minutes from downtown.  In reference to the market he declared that “everything is hot,” and while buyers are snapping up resale homes, many see the value in new construction where they can enjoy more amenities.  He gave as examples the contemporary design his company offers along with roof top decks. Watch for two new developments coming soon from Southern Development Homes, Belmont Station and Belmont Point.

Downtown Lifestyle
A big part of the appeal of living downtown is walkability. For families that live very close-in some  even give up one of their cars while others use them less, preferring to walk or bike to work, to shop, or to meet a friend for lunch. 

In addition to convenience, walkability makes economic sense. A 2015 study conducted  in Austin, Texas—home to the University of Texas—found that a one percent increase in a neighborhood’s walkability score was associated with a $1,329 increase in property values. Less walkable, but close-in, areas benefited as well although to a lesser extent.    

And a May 15, 2015 Press Release from the National Association of REALTORS® stated that walkable areas are “inherently more affordable” since individuals living that close-in usually spend only 43 percent of their income on housing and transportation, compared to those living in non-walkable areas, who spend nearer 48 percent. 

The centerpiece of downtown Charlottesville is the pedestrian mall, the first phase of which was completed in 1976. Clearly the planners deserve congratulations as our mall is one of just a few such attempts at this model of downtown renewal that have survived. Charlottesville’s mall is longer than most, comprising seven blocks closed to traffic with over 30 restaurants and 120 shops and boutiques of all varieties.

“When you live downtown you can walk to restaurants and entertainment,” Telefus said. Viejo described the downtown area as a “happening” place where people enjoy walking around and eating in the many local restaurants.  Another downtown feature that she says adds “vibrancy” to the area is the Charlottesville City Market, open Saturdays from 7 a.m. until noon from April through December.

“Walkability is the number one desire” of buyers that come to Burnet Commons looking for their next place to live, Soubra said, referencing clients who walk to work downtown and a professor who bikes to UVA. Downtown buyers also appreciate “being part of Charlottesville instead of just living in it,” he continued.   

Living downtown also appeals to home buyers for whom green values are important.  This could be expressed as making an older home more energy efficient or buying a new one. “However,” Soubra said, “while sustainability and walkability both add value to a home, walkability trumps it all.”

Downtown Buyers
Robert Ramsey with Roy Wheeler Realty Co. is very familiar with downtown and all the changes that have occurred there over the last 60+ years. His family’s home on Park Street where he grew up was just three houses from the country long before the bypass or the Downtown Mall.  Today he offices on 8th Street in the same building where his mother once went for appointments with her obstetrician.

Ramsey described some of the  people who today call the downtown area home. Prominent among them are downsizing Boomers.  These are folks who once moved out to Ivy and other outlying areas when they had families, but now are ready to give up a car.  “Cutting down on drive time saves on gas, mind and soul,” Ramsey said. Others relocate to be free of taking care of a home and yard choosing a condo, while still others prefer the reduced maintenance of a small house and yard.

Some who choose the downtown area love the prospect of renovating older homes, Ramsey explained. They take homes built between the 20’s and the 50’s and modernize them keeping what’s good.  For this group, starting over with a new house is less appealing, in part because they often sit on small lots that are “a deterrent to Boomers, especially if they come from two to twenty acres out in the country.”  While these buyers no longer want the acreage they still like the idea of a yard with a garden, Ramsey explained.   

Downtown draws the “full gamut” of buyers, Viejo said.  She has worked with young people, both single and married, young families and retirees attracted by popular downtown features such as the Ix Art Park just south of the mall.  The Art Park offers many free cultural and civic activities such as outdoor concerts and an artists’ showcase, and visitors can also enjoy a variety of eating establishments without leaving the property. Ix property manager Erin Hall encourages everyone to come join the festivities stating that  “the Art Park is busy every day.”   

Downtown neighborhoods can also be a good source of rental properties for investors, Soubra said.  The area’s easy access to the local hospitals makes it a popular place for medical residents along with other young professionals needing to rent a home in a convenient location. 

Alley called the Belmont area “investor friendly” since landlords can expect rent payments to cover their monthly mortgage obligation.

 While downtown can be pricey, it still attracts first-timers.  Telefus worked with a couple, both with jobs at the medical center, who were able to afford a first home in the mid-$300,000 range and chose to locate near downtown.  She said that a lot of buyers in the market now understand the advantage of the current low interest rates, though she warned they should act now since things could look very different come spring. 

Urban  Community
Families who love living in town are willing to pay higher prices and possibly compromise on amenities to be as close as possible to downtown.  They come from out of the area, from out of state, and even from out of the country, but many come from as close as Albemarle County or the Route 29 corridor. These are people who are looking for an “urban community,” Ramsey said.

Charlottesville’s many cultural activities are very attractive  Telefus explained, but a huge benefit of  Charlottesville is the nice views.  She has sold property to clients who looked at a variety of homes and locations and ultimately bought downtown for the convenience and walkability, but it was often the beautiful view that finally clinched the sale.

If you want to live where you can walk to the Downtown Mall, ask your agent about moving to one of the close-in neighborhoods where you can be part of a vibrant local music and restaurant scene, buy vegetables at the City Market and most of the time, leave your car at home.


Celeste Smucker is a writer, blogger and author who lives near Charlottesville.